Sensex tanks 491pts on panic selling; Nifty below 4900

Mumbai: Extending its declines to the sixth straight session, the benchmark Sensex on Wednesday plummeted 491 points, recording its sharpest fall since last August, as foreign funds pressed panic button ahead of the expiry of the January contracts tomorrow amid feeble global cues.

The 30-share Bombay Stock Exchange barometer, after a 188
points gap-down opening, extended the losses to close the day
with a 490.64 points fall to 16,289.82, as brokers and funds
sold their pending positions in the realty, auto, banks and
metals counters.

This is the sharpest fall for the key index in 21 weeks--
the Sensex tanked 626.71 points last August 17 following
monsoon worries.

The wide-based National Stock Exchange index Nifty 50
broke two psychological levels today -- 5,000 and 4,900-- and
plunged 154.80 points to 4,853.10. It commenced the day well
below 5,000 points level opening with a loss of 63 points.

Marketmen said trading sentiment remained bearish in line
with subdued global markets on reports that China may impose
further measures to squeeze money supply and the S&P
downgraded the outlook for Japanese economy to `negative.`

Yesterday, the global rating agency S&P downgraded the
outlook for the Japanese economy to `negative` and warned that
it would revise the ratings of Japanese government debt if the
world`s second largest economy does not contain its ballooning
deficit.

The Japan`s benchmark index Nikkei-225 closed lower 0.71
percent as a stronger yen weighed on exporters. The US stock
markets had closed marginally lower last night.